He's paid tens of thousands of dollars in rent on possible locations for a pot-shop chain, hired lawyers and picked out flooring. But now the nation's second legal recreational marijuana industry is about to start without him.

O'Neil struck out in Washington's lottery for coveted pot-shop licenses. He has unsuccessfully tried to buy companies that scored a lucky number. In frustration, he's turning what would have been his Seattle retail store into a medical marijuana dispensary.

"Our company is bleeding money, and I haven't sold a single joint," O'Neil says.

As Washington plows toward the legal pot promised land, it's finding that getting the cannabis market off the ground has been even tougher than anyone imagined.